CWC Visit Report: Haptikos — A Greek Deep-Tech Leader Bringing Human Touch to Robotics

Visit Date: 28 November 2025
Location: Athens, Greece

China West Connector (CWC) visited Haptikos, one of the three winners of the 1st Sino-Hellenic Startup Competition. As part of their award, Haptikos traveled to Chengdu, Sichuan, presenting their technology to Chinese investors, ecosystem partners, and government authorities.

This visit provided an in-depth look at a Greek company with strong technical foundations and direct relevance to China’s fast-growing robotics, simulation, and immersive-training sectors.

About Haptikos

Haptikos develops an advanced haptic hand exoskeleton combined with a powerful software ecosystem designed to digitize human touch and convert natural hand movements into precise, machine-readable data.

Their mission:
Teach robots and virtual systems to understand and reproduce human touch with accuracy, speed, and realism.

Core Technology

Haptikos offers a fully integrated system consisting of:

1. Hand Exoskeleton Hardware

Lightweight, ergonomic, and comfortable
Tracks fine finger and hand movements with high precision
Provides realistic tactile feedback
Designed for extended professional use
Quick one-step calibration

2. haptik_OS & Robotics API

A robust software suite enabling:

Real-time capture of hand and finger motion
High-fidelity teleoperation of robotic hands and manipulators
Multimodal dataset creation for AI/robot training
Direct integration with ROS 2, Unity, and NVIDIA Isaac Sim

This combination makes Haptikos one of the few companies globally providing both hardware and developer-grade software for touch-based robotic learning.

A Strategic Advantage: NVIDIA Integration

This is one of Haptikos’ most important strengths — and a major relevance point for China.

Haptikos integrates natively with NVIDIA Isaac Sim, the world’s leading simulation environment for robotics, digital twins, and AI-powered manipulation.

This means:

Robots in simulation can be taught directly through the Haptikos glove, with real-time hand motion mirrored by robot models.
Companies can generate training datasets more efficiently for Reinforcement Learning (RL), Imitation Learning (IL), and dexterous manipulation.
Developers can blend real-world demonstrations with digital twin environments, accelerating robot deployment in smart factories.
Chinese robotics integrators using NVIDIA’s platform can adopt Haptikos with minimal configuration effort.

Given NVIDIA’s dominance in Chinese research labs, universities, and industrial robotics R&D centers, this integration dramatically increases Haptikos’ potential in China.

Application Areas

1. Robotics Training, Teleoperation & Digital Twins

Suitable for advanced manipulation tasks, remote operations, and intelligent robot teaching workflows.

2. Medical & Surgical Simulation

Supports high-fidelity simulation for:

Surgery training
Medical device practice
Fine-motor skill development

3. Industrial XR & Workforce Education

Enhances skill acquisition and safety training in VR/AR industrial environments.

4. Research & AI Dataset Generation

Enables collection of precise datasets critical for training next-generation robotic systems.

Observations from the Visit

During the meeting in Athens:

The Haptikos system demonstrated strong engineering maturity, ease of use, and stability.
The robotic hand interface and motion capture pipeline were well-aligned for both research and commercial applications.
The team blends academic depth with practical product focus — an important trait for scaling internationally.
The company is already positioned to engage in pilots across Europe and Asia.

Why Haptikos Is Relevant for China

China’s major policy and investment focus areas include:

Smart manufacturing
Robotics automation
Virtual training and digital twins
Remote operation technologies
AI for industrial productivity

Haptikos fits directly into these strategic pillars.

Their NVIDIA Isaac Sim integration also positions them perfectly for collaboration with:

Robotics companies in Chengdu, Shenzhen, Shanghai
University labs using Isaac for RL/IL research
Provincial innovation centers running digital-twin pilots
Smart-factory integrators seeking advanced human-robot demonstration tools
Medical simulation facilities and university hospitals

CWC’s Role Going Forward

CWC will support Haptikos in:

Initiating NVIDIA-focused pilot programs in China
Connecting with robotics integrators in Sichuan and major innovation zones
Exploring co-manufacturing or assembly routes where appropriate
Presenting Haptikos to provincial-level tech parks and government programs
Positioning the company for strategic investment and commercial entry

The goal is to help Haptikos become a flagship Greek deep-tech export within China’s robotics and immersive-technology ecosystem.

Conclusion

Haptikos represents the kind of deep-technology innovation that aligns naturally with China’s priorities in robotics, digital twins, medical simulation, and AI-driven automation.

Their combination of: